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Things that go bump in the road
• I WOULD like to respond to the recent correspondence about Islington’s speed bumps (Letters May 16, 23).
It’s obvious that some people don’t like bumps, and they are of course very welcome to their opinion.
I am not very keen on them myself, but it isn’t fair to paint them as some sort of bureaucratic conspiracy against drivers and taxpayers, imposed against everyone’s wishes.
Many people are in favour of speed bumps, or, to be more specific, the lower speeds that they help to enforce. Although less vocal in their opinions, there are many who campaign for more bumps, or higher bumps, to reduce fatalities and other accidents.
There is a balance to find between saving lives, and the inconvenience to road users which flows from some of the measures.
I welcome the debate, and as a Listening Council we are always striving to find the right balance.
People ask why we don’t install road narrowing instead? Sometimes we do.
But this has drawbacks of its own – it is more expensive, unsuitable for narrower roads and it uses up large amounts of parking space.
The original high speed bumps were funded by Transport for London.
Across Islington we are gradually replacing bumps with more modern designs that are better for road users, but still slow traffic down.
This is only a small part of a much wider resurfacing scheme, in which we are investing £20million on making our roads better – again, because residents say it’s important to them.
Generally, bumps need to be removed and replaced as part of the resurfacing process.
We do not have an obsession with road humps, but in common with other councils of all political persuasions recognise them as a necessary evil.
We will, however, also be looking at cameras and other alternatives to ensure that our residents are protected, and we encourage the debate on traffic calming to continue in a constructive manner.
GREG FOXSMITH
Executive member for the Environment
Islington Council
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